The Zen Birdfeeder focuses on the birds and other nature we find in our own yards and the zen principles of ATTENTION, ACCEPTANCE, and RESPONSIBILITY.

May 30, 2017

A Cardinal Loss

We had a fatal window strike last week, a male cardinal. I found him laying in the seat of the Adirondack chair that sits beneath our front windows.

I had been sitting in that chair about 12 hours earlier, so it had to have occurred either at nightfall or quite early in the morning. It was puzzling because we'd been in the house, and didn't hear that awful "thunk" against the window.

We buried him but he hasn't left my mind since.

Spring wildlife deaths bother me maybe the most. Whether it's roadkill or a bird in my own yard, spring deaths seem so unfair. Animals that survived a northeast winter's cold and ice and snow, lived to greet the spring only to meet their demise as breeding is just getting underway. It doesn't seem fair.

No bird loss is easy, but a cardinal loss is extra hard. We just don't have many cardinals in the yard. I knew we definitely had one pair, and the loss of one-half of that pair is devastating to me.

We didn't even have cardinals in our yard until 2005! Cardinals have been expanding their range northward and to higher elevations, and it wasn't until after 15 years of feeding birds in our yard that a male cardinal appeared on April 2, 2005. We've had them regularly since, though not in large numbers. They breed here now, but the death of even one cardinal is a terrible loss.

Then I worry about Mrs. Cardinal. Over the past couple weeks, I saw a cardinal pair staying quite close to each other, feeding together, and at least three instances of mate-feeding. Her on a perch or a feeder, he approaching with his sweet offer of food, she kindly accepting his gift. A cardinal pair engaged in mate-feeding is likely to nest nearby.

A cardinal pair had also been exchanging songs, another sign of pair formation. Morning and dusk, early to rise, late to sleep, I was assured a duet of "what cheer" from the two.

Was my dead male part of that pair? And if they were paired, just how far were they in the breeding process?Was the nest built and eggs laid? Without a dad to keep mom fed during incubation, the brood would probably not survive. Were the eggs hatched? Again, broods with two parents feeding them fair better than one parent broods, if a one parent brood survive at all.

I see the female now and then. And I have seen a male in the yard. But I think that's what he was: "a" male, not "the" male. I see no mate-feeding. I hear no cross-singing early in the morning and as night falls. I fear the worst has happened and "the" male cardinal that ruled our yard and pronounced it theirs is gone.

It's getting dark out there, five days after our loss. It's just before 8pm, and I see the female cardinal alone at the bath, no male in sight. No cardinal duet, so for me, even though there's plenty of other bird songs and calls, the silence is deafening. I'll miss him and think of him all summer long, and the redbird family that might have been.

Comments

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Via email from Jack Wolfe of Huntsville AL:
I am Jack Wolfe living in Huntsville Al. I have finished reading your email about the loss of Mr.Cardinal. We love our Cardinals also but we are blessed with a couple nest each year in our yard. We no longer attract Purple Finch we did at one time.. Every couple of years we may see a few Pine Siskin's but not very often. I shared your message with my wife over coffee we both enjoyed reading them.

Ooh, Diane, that loss of the mom with known babies is especially tough.
Moral of the story: when we deeply observe nature, it comes with the good and the bad. Good luck with your next bluebird family and thanks for your comment.

I'm sorry for that hole in your heart. It is hard. I'm still not over watching a sharpie make off with the female eastern bluebird whose 5-day-old babes were in the birdhouse in my garden. It's been about three weeks, and at last the same male is back in the other birdhouse in the garden, with a new mate and 4 eggs a few days old. I hope for better luck this time. For the bluebirds and for me. For the hawk, I wish it good luck but elsewhere.

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ATTENTION

Our eyes and ears should be open and alert to the natural wonders that surround us every day. Take time to look out our windows to see the birds that visit us and open our windows to hear them. Walk around whatever space we have to enjoy the birds in nature. Every day, work on improving our powers of observation.

ACCEPTANCE

Nature happens. We cannot MAKE natural things happen (or NOT happen). We can create habitats to encourage natural things to happen around us, but there are no guarantees.

RESPONSIBILITY

Birdfeeding comes with responsibilities to the birds and the environment we share with them. If you are unwilling to accept these responsibilities, you shouldn’t feed the birds. We also have a responsibility to share these natural wonders with the next generation.